Bathinda, March 18
Activists of the Unemployed Physical Training Instructors (PTI) Union, allegedly roughed up by the leaders of the ruling Akali Dal here on Thursday, demanded that all the accused including former SAD minister Sikander Singh Maluka be booked under criminal charges.

Besides, the union activists demanded the resignation of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee chief Avtar Singh Makkar, who was also present on the spot when the incident took place.

Holding a press conference at the Teachers' Home here today, the union leaders informed that they had filed a written complaint with the Inspector General of Police (Bathinda Zone) with a request to take immediate action in the regard.

They declared that the PTI union activists would disturb all the functions where Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal would be present as they were beaten up by the party leaders just to be in her good books.

Showing their torn dupattas, the women activists of the union said, "The incident has exposed the hollowness of the Nanhi Chhan campaign of Harsimrat in which she presents herself to be a saviour of women. Thrashing and dragging the girl protesters by their hair and dupattas is an attack upon the dignity of the daughters of Punjab."

Refuting the statement of Maluka that the PTI union was playing into the hands of the Congress, the state president of the union, Mandeep Sing said, "The former minister has now forgotten that Maluka and his son used to support our cause during Captain Amarinder Singh's regime when the SAD was in opposition in the state."

"We had opted to reach the function only after seeing that the state government was not at all bothered about our demands. We were been sitting on dharna at Lambi village in the CM's home constituency since February 27 but nobody came to redress our grievances," he mentioned.

A former sportsperson, Sunita Rani, who had also sustained injuries during the incident, said, "It is not the welfare of women that is on the mind of the Bathinda MP, she just want to use women to garner support in the form of votes in the elections."

The union members informed that they had also filed a written complaint with the IGP (Bathinda Zone).

Meanwhile, a number of Congress leaders of the district including Rampura Phul MLA Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Pakka Kalan MLA Makhan Singh, Nathana MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti and district president (rural) Narinder Singh Bhaleria condemned the incident.

The district (Mansa) president of the Youth Congress, Gurpreet Singh Sidhu along with nearly 200 supporters blocked the Mansa-Barnala road and burnt the effigy of the state government to lodge protest against the "high-handedness" of the Akali leaders.

Ferozepur, March 18
The members of the crisis management group of the Congress-led UPA-I government, allegedly offered a bribe of Rs 50 crores and party ticket from the Ferozepur Lok Sabha constituency to late Akali MP Zora Singh Mann, who remained three-time MP from Ferozepur, to secure victory in the trust vote over the Indo-US nuclear deal in Parliament in 2008.

This startling disclosure was made by Bachitter Singh, personal secretary and Vardev Singh Mann, member, SGPC and son of former MP Zora Singh Mann, here today. Both Bachitter and Vardev knew minute details of the attempts, which were made by the UPA crisis managers to make Zora Singh Mann either vote in its favour or abstain from voting in lieu of a consideration.

Talking to TNS, they said when Mann did not accept their offer, the crisis managers made an attempt to exploit his religious sentiments by saying that as Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister of the country, it was the duty of every Sikh to save his chair.

“On July 21, 2008, when Mann was inside Parliament House, one Bhupinder Singh from England started making calls from his cell phone 00447809542816 to Mann whose number was 09868180862 and it was in my hand at that time,” claimed Bachitter.

“When I attended the call, Bhupinder asked me that he wanted to talk to Mann in connection with a message from atop the VVVIP of the country. When I told him that Mann was inside the house and could be contacted after sometime, he kept making calls at regular intervals,” he added.

“On the fifth call, Bhupinder told me that a person named Bhatia was standing outside at the reception of the Parliament House and asked me to meet him immediately. When I went to the reception centre, Bhatia talked to me and sought an appointment with Mann,” Bachitter said.

“However, I told Bhatia that the MP cannot meet him as Mann was to attend a dinner on July 21, 2008. However, when we came back around 9 pm, Bhatia along with four others was standing outside Mann's official residence at Meena Bagh in Delhi. They had come in a white colour Range Rover vehicle, whose registration number was from Punjab,” he added.

“Mann talked to Bhatia in the room where the telephone operator was sitting. After some time, I saw Mann was trying to get rid of Bhatia in an angry mood. When we approached them, Bhatia was insisting that Mann must go along with him to the house of a VVVIP, who was in crisis. They were offering Rs 50 crores as bribe money and the Congress ticket from Ferozepur,” Bachitter said.

However, Mann asked them to leave his house. While, Bhatia was leaving, he increased the amount of bribe money and offered Rs 100 crores for favouring the UPA-I government. Next day, Mann went to Parliament and voted against the confidence motion moved on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Vardev Mann said Mann shared everything with him in connection with offers made to him for saving the UPA-I government immediately after the incident took place.

He said an inquiry by the independent agency could prove the fact that the Congress crisis manager offered bribe to MPs of various parties to save the UPA-I government from collapsing. 

Bathinda, March 18
Dozens of activists of the Punjab Government College Teachers' Association (PGCTA) staged an anti-government demonstration at the entrance of the Government Rajindra College, here today.

Responding to the call given by the Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers' Organization (PFUCTO), the teachers from Bathinda, Muktsar, Mansa and Faridkot districts assembled at the college premises and lodged protest for two hours.

Demanding the clearance of their years-old arrears, amendments in the conditions for the retirement age and pension benefits, the agitating teachers accused the state government of not being serious towards their "genuine" demands.

Speaking to the media, state president of the PGCTA, Jai Pal Singh of Ludhiana said, "We have been struggling to get the arrears for 43 months (January 1, 2006-July 31, 2009). Though 80 per cent of the total burden is to be borne by the union government in the shape of reimbursements, the state government is still not willing to clear it."

"As per the union government's policy, an employee after serving for 20 years is entitled to pension benefits. Here, the condition for us is 33 years. Moreover, the Union HRD Ministry has extended the retirement age to 65 years, but here, the retirement age for teachers serving in private colleges is 60 years and in government colleges, 58 years, which is a clear example of injustice," said Jai Pal Singh.

He warned that the protest would continue till the demands were met. — TNS

Ferozepur, March 18
Amarjit Kaur, who has been serving the Education Department in the district for the past 33 years, was placed under suspension by the District Education Officer (Secondary) after the authorities concerned suspected that she had allegedly got the job by tampering the marksheet of her CPEd degree in 1977.

Baldev Singh, District Education Officer, issued the order in connection with the suspension of Amarjit Kaur, Physical Training Instructor (PTI), at the Government Middle School, Dulchike village of this district today. There are only a few months left before she retires.

A charge-sheet was issued to Amarjit Kaur on the basis of a complaint lodged by Tarun Chadha, clerk, Education Department a few months ago. As she could not give satisfactory reply, she was suspended today. Tarun had lodged a complaint in this connection on March 15, last year.

Baldev Singh, DEO (Secondary), said if anyone else is found possessing fake degrees as per the official record, action would be taken against them as well. Meanwhile, Tarun Chadha, who was the whistle-blower in the case, had been transferred to the Moga district from Ferozepur on administrative grounds by the state education department a few months ago. 

Ferozepur, March 18
Shavinder Kaur Jauhal, former president, Istri Akali Dal (Badal) and mother-in-law of ousted finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal today condemned the alleged trashing of the girl activists of Unemployed PTI Teachers Union by the leaders of the ruling SAD (B).

Talking to TNS over phone, she said instead of facilitating the meeting of these activists with Harsimrat Kaur Badal, MP, Bathinda, the Akali leaders beat them up. Such an action was never expected under the rule of CM Parkash Singh Badal. She said henceforth ,she would join such agitations so that she could support the unemployed youths in their struggle to get government jobs. — TNS

Sriganganagar, March 18
Even when the senior engineers in the Irrigation Department in the Abohar canal division lamented that 25 per cent cut in the water supply has been enforced in the Ramsara, Malukpura and Daulatpura sub-canals in the sub-division to provide more water to the farmers of Punjab origin in the twin districts of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh, the leaders here alleged discrimination in the canal water supply.

While raising the issue in the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha Sriganganagar, legislator Radhey Shyam said only 1500 cusecs of water was being received from the headworks, located in the Ferozepur district against the requirement of 3500 cusecs. He expressed resentment over backtracking by the Punjab government on plugging the 30 feet wide-cut in the Rajasthan Feeder in the Muktsar district to divert water to the Sirhind Feeder.

A deputation of the BJP leaders from Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh was assured by the Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal last year that the breach would be plugged within a firtnight but nothing was done. Former CM Vasundhara Raje too had taken it up with the CM. Radhey Shyam urged the Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot not to allow the Punjab government to go ahead with its plan to make such cuts at burji number 117, 411 and 496 in the coming days.

MLA Radhey Shyam cautioned that the ‘Cancer Train’ that runs between Bikaner and Abohar will have to be extended to Sriganganagar, if supply of contaminated water through Malwa region was not checked. Capt Subhash Sehgal, spokesman, Rajasthan Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, said the government has decided to hold an urgent meeting of the water regulatory committee on March 31. — OC

Bathinda, March 18
The excise and taxation department has earned about Rs 8.25 crore from 4,100 (approximately) applications received for all 438 liquor vends in the district.

If one compares the response of the participants with that in the previous year, the response is not enough to give one a high. During the year 2010-11, the excise and taxation department had earned about Rs 9.5 crore from nearly 6,000 applications received for a total of 380 vends in the district.

Despite this, the excise officials express satisfaction claiming that almost all known liquor players of the region have positively vied for the vends in the system and there is not even a single group for which people did not bid.

Now, the department is gearing up for the allotment of all vends through a draw system, slated for March 21. The department has arranged for the draw of lots dividing the total number of vends into 49 groups/zones.

Sources in the office of the assistant excise and taxation commissioner (AETC), Bathinda, informed that most of the big players in the trade, including Paunty Chadha, Harish group, Pintu group and Bahia group were participating. Many of the players have applied in partnership but under different names.

It has also been reported that a number of participants from other states like Rajasthan and Haryana have also participated. A number of women have also applied for the vend units this time.

Finding that the sale capacity of vends in the city is increasing day by day, the number of vends have been increased from 70 to 98. With the total annual quota of 5.63 lakh proof litres, the area within the limits of Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been divided into four zones. Each zone would have 12 units of PML and IMFL.

Fixing the total quota of liquor as 22.52 lakh proof litres, the department will earn Rs 40. 32 crore as license fee from vends that are to be opened within the BMC limits.

Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Bathinda, Pawan Garg said, "Though the response is slightly less than the last year, it is still above average. After completing the process of receiving applications, we are now in the process of ensuring a totally transparent and smooth conduct of the draw."

It may be mentioned that the department has fixed Rs 55 as the minimum price of beer bottle/can but with no maximum retail price being fixed, people are expecting that once again, the beer lovers would be at the receiving end.

Bathinda, March 18
Following the detection of two cases of H1N1 (swine flu) in Shekhu and Chak Ruldu Singh Wala villages (Sangat block) in the district yesterday, the district health authorities today conducted a survey of the houses, situated near the swine flu affected persons in both the villages.

The health staff distributed Tamiflu capsules and syrup to those had come in contact with the patients.

DHO Dr R.S. Randhawa said that a rapid response team today visited the Shekhu village where it collected information about the persons who had come into contact with the H1N1-affected Mandip Singh (25). He said the team also educated people about the preventive measures. No new patient had been found, he added.

It may be recalled that two suspected patients of H1N1, Mandip Singh (25) from Shekhu village and Urmila Devi (55) from Chak Ruldu Singh Wala village, in sangat block, were admitted to the DMC Hospital, Ludhiana on March 16 where their throat swab was tested. During the test, both were tested positive for H1N1. 

Bathinda, March 18
Under the national vector-borne diseases programme, a meeting was held here today under the presidentship of Civil Surgeon Dr Inder Dayal Goyal to check the outbreak of such diseases in the district.

The meeting was attended, among others, by the District Health Officer (DHO) Dr RS Randhawa, District Malaria Officer Dr Ashok, representatives of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation and the municipal councils of various towns, water supply and sewerage board, DEOs both primary and secondary.

The Civil Surgeon said no health programme could succeed without the active participation of the people.

So, there was a need to create awareness by imparting health education to the people so that they could protect themselves from the diseases, he added.

The DHO spoke about dengue and malaria in detail. He also told the participants about the diseases that were spread by the mosquitoes. He told them about the sources and places which favour the breeding of the mosquitoes. He also told them that besides the Health Department, how other departments can play an important role in checking the diseases and answered questions asked by the participants.

The DHO also spoke about the causes of occurrence and measure for prevention. Randhawa also asked the water supply agencies to supply the water after proper chlorination. He also informed the participants about the latest swine flu cases in the district.

Fazilka, February 18
City police (Fazilka) have booked a person, Amandeep, for shooting his brother-in-law, Nitin, four days after the incident took place.

The family members got Nitin admitted to the Adesh Hospital (Muktsar). His condition was stated to be stable.

Police, after tracing the whereabouts of the victim, recorded his statement yesterday and registered a case under sections 307,25,54,59 of the IPC and Arms Act against Amandeep. Investigation Officer Puran Singh said Amandeep was arrested by the police today. He was produced before the judicial magistrate (Fazilka), who remanded him to police custody for a day. — OC

Ferozepur, March 18
Darshan Singh alias Kaka, a labourer engaged by a contractor of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for shifting the electricity metre, was shot dead by one Gurmail Singh, at village Mankyawali of the district before noon, today.

Lakhbir Singh, another labourer, who suffered gunshot injuries, has been admitted to the civil hospital, Zira. His condition was stated to be stable.

Police sources said both Darshan Singh and Lakhbir Singh, working with contractor Paramjit Singh, went to village Mankyawali to shift the metres of all residents.

On reaching Gurmail Singh’s house, they found him to be involved in 
power theft by using ‘Kundi’ connection from the main supply line.

They removed the ‘Kundi’ connection. Balwinder Singh, DSP, Zira, said a case under section 302 of the IPC and Section 27 of Arms Act had been registered at police station concerned on the basis of the statement of Lakhbir Singh. Efforts are on to nab the accused, he said. — TNS